BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 49 – Agreement.

A mild headache... began to fade little by little...

That scene? It was as if the world had changed... and I had moved to a different place...

That place. That mausoleum...

It felt terrifying...

My Harbinger traits have a fifth one... if I obtain it... then...

I will gain a higher title...

What is the higher title? I don’t know, but it will never be something simple...

This world... is becoming more complicated bit by bit... and I...

am just a fool walking on luck, nothing more...

Luckily, I am inside a closed space, otherwise I would be easy prey for everyone...

{ Diiing... Diiing... Diiing }

Yes... I have another reward.

{ Minor Secret Mission – Insects of the Underworld }

{ Completed Successfully }

{ Rewards }

{ Recovery Tree }

Haaa?

Suddenly... a small branch fell into my hand. At its tip was a bean-like seed.

At that moment, a transparent panel manifested before my eyes, made of glowing lines arranged with strict precision.

They were the longest lines I had ever seen to explain anything before...

{ Recovery Tree }

Item Type: Continuous production plant. Grants a recovery flower.

Description: The longer the flower remains unpicked, the higher its grade becomes and the better the ability it grants.

Stages of growth:

Yellow

Consumption grants: Healing Ability – First Rank.

Green

Consumption grants: Advanced Healing Ability – Second Rank.

Red

Consumption grants: Advanced Healing Ability – Third Rank.

Blue

Consumption grants: Advanced Healing Ability – Fourth Rank.

White

Consumption grants: Advanced Healing Ability – Fifth Rank (maximum).

The lines changed and became larger... a final warning in a dark color.

Black

If the flower surpasses the stage of perfection and continues to grow:

No ability will be granted.

"What is this...?" I shouted in excitement... then my body straightened...

Is the system reading my thoughts?

If someone asked me what occupies my mind the most... of course it would be recovery... there are traits and weapons and everything like other worlds... except recovery.

No ability, no item, nothing... and now I am given a reward regarding this... and not just any reward.

It is a great reward...

I sighed... then took a deep breath... and went back to read what was written again.

After a few minutes... I understood some things... the tree in its current form looks like a branch holding a seed... so...

Suddenly... a strong wind shot the curtains upward and pierced the room.

"Egg... come to meet me."

The voice boomed inside my mind and caused a headache.

"Come now."

It shouted again inside my thoughts...

"How is this happening?" I whispered... my eyes narrowed in surprise... wasn’t that damned monster unable to communicate with me telepathically??

The more suspicious question... what does it want now... its voice... sounded as if something had happened...

Damn it... I knew it... that despicable system would never let me enjoy my rewards without obstacles...

I told no one...

I quickly headed toward the cave... I was no longer afraid of it... it wasn’t like I could withstand it in a fight anyway...

But our agreement had been clear...

"You came quickly," the deceitful monster’s voice echoed from deep within the dark cave...

"Are you kidding me? Your voice sounded scared, asking for my help to come fast."

"Hahaha, Egg... you have quite a sense of humor... but..."

"But what?" I replied, then took a rock as my seat...

"The Recovery Tree," it answered directly.

"What?" I could barely comprehend it... how did it know? I wondered anxiously.

"Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. The Recovery Tree... do you know what it does, or did you win it just like that?" The voice carried mockery.

But I didn’t care about its sarcasm...

I was trying to think about what was happening... how could the monster lying in this cave know about something I had barely obtained moments ago...

Does that mean... it watches all my movements all the time...?

"Don’t exhaust your delicious brain with thoughts, Egg... I am one of the Ten Monsters. Perhaps because you haven’t met one of us at full strength before, you underestimate our position and abilities."

"So what do you want? Whether I won or not is none of your business," I said mockingly, and added,

"And why would I help you in the first place? It seems you forgot what you told me last time." My voice sounded angry, ready to leave at any moment...

"Hahaha... as a gesture of goodwill, let me tell you about that tree first."

"I don’t want to. Thanks."

"Oooo," the voice echoed from afar. "Then what will you do with it? Plant it... where, in your village?"

"Why not? I have excellent farms... and top-level farmers."

"Haha, and do you know how long it will take to sprout until it becomes the first flower?"

"You tell me. Let me see the extent of your knowledge."

"Haha, so you don’t know... it takes a full year."

"Are you kidding?" I asked quickly... of course there was a good chance it was lying, but...

"Let me tell you what I propose... if you like it, we agree. If you don’t, you can verify my words and plant it yourself," the Monster of Deceit answered...

"I’m listening."

"Plant it here. And give me one of the flowers," the monster said.

"What does it want?" I wondered internally... and replied,

"Then?"

"If you agree... I will grant you and all your fighters flowers from it in record time... then I will take only one, and after that everything will be yours and the plant will fully return to you..."

"Wasn’t one flower supposed to take a whole year? What changed? How will you give me and my fighters those flowers in record time?" I asked sarcastically. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

A violent wind echoed from afar, and the voice followed...

"You fool who doesn’t understand the size of the world... who do you think we, the Ten Monsters, are?"

"You," I said, "are stalling... tell me how you will do it. If I suspect you are deceiving me like before, I won’t listen to anything you say afterward."

"Hehe. Of course I deceive, I am the Monster of Deceit... but I am truthful with you... and I will tell you... listen." The voice fell silent for a moment...

"In my private dimension, I can increase time as I wish... affecting everything except myself... the year your flower needs to mature... will be only a few minutes here..."

"It’s an amazing ability, but... what do you want with the flower?" I asked...

"That concerns me... I don’t interfere in your matters, and you don’t interfere in mine. We have mutual interests. This is the best we can offer each other," the monster replied... and asked for my final decision.

Of course... one could say it is an excellent offer... but... what fool agrees without more details? "Tell me," I said, and added,

"Which flower do you want?"

"I won’t tell you."

"Then no deal."

"As you wish... I told you what I offer. If you accept it without deceit, we cooperate; if not, that’s fine. In both cases, I will not tell you my private matters..."

Hahaha... I laughed loudly and said,

"I don’t care about your matters... what I want to know is... how will I bet one of the flowers with you when I don’t know when it will mature? The yellow flower needs a year... maybe the white needs 100 years... and those 100 years need at least a year as well in your void, I assume."

"You are wrong..." the voice was calm, and added,

"I can make the white flower mature in a day... but my current abilities are restricted... so... I will grant you twenty yellow flowers, fifteen green, ten red, five blue, and one white... after that, you will have nothing until I get my flower, then I will return the plant to you completely."

"In one day?"

"Yes, I will give them to you in one day."

"I have a question for you..."

"Go ahead."

"If one of my followers eats a flower of a certain color other than white... can they eat the white later and gain its advanced ability? Or is it one-time use?"

"Yes, they will gain the advanced ability... but... you must know something... in your current state, and everyone else’s... even if you eat a white flower, it will not function with all its healing potential... your rank and their levels are far weaker than that flower... but..."

"But what?"

"You can eat it... it will give you a healing ability suitable for your rank... and when your rank rises, the flower’s ability will also rise... and it will continue to climb with your rank until it reaches the fifth rank... where you gain the full healing power of the white flower."

"There it is then... give us all white flowers."

"Hahahahaha."

A huge laugh thundered from the darkness...

"You must forget that... I told you the limits of my current abilities... the number I told you is what I can offer."

"Fine, let me think a little..."

"Think... your rock is still warm."

"What should I do..." I whispered internally... it’s an excellent deal... but has that monster ever given a proposal entirely in my favor?

"Unless..." my eyes narrowed... is it sick or something? And needs those flowers urgently... maybe.

That means... I can take huge benefits from it... or maybe I can’t... I don’t know...

It seems like a proud monster... trying to force it might backfire... so what’s the solution?

After some time... I stood up again, energizing my body... the Monster of Deceit was still watching me... even though I couldn’t see it...

"Are you still here?" I said... and it replied quickly, "Yes."

"I have other conditions..." I said, then added, "You have an amazing time ability and control your dimension perfectly... I want you to build training arenas here so we can use them for training... at accelerated time."

"Finally you started thinking with your mind instead of your emotions," the monster replied in a heavy voice... and added,

"This condition is the best for you. In a few days, your people’s strength and yours will rise greatly... and when you leave, you will find that only hours have passed outside."

"Then we agree... how will we sign our agreement?"

"Like this," the voice answered... as a magic circle appeared out of nowhere... at its center were the points of the agreement we had spent so long discussing...

At the edges of the circle were two smaller circles, one of them containing a drop of blood...

"Press the drop, then the empty circle," whispered the Monster of Deceit.

Again... I read the points... then signed using that drop... and the screen disappeared...

"Now give it to me," the monster’s voice rang out...

I took out the Recovery Tree... then placed the branch on the ground... suddenly...

The branch rose upward... and moved toward a deeper area in the cave... I followed it.

It kept moving for quite a while... then a large earthen area emerged... its soil was a mysterious brown like coffee...

It was first-class agricultural soil... even I, who knew nothing, understood that...

In the middle of the space... the branch sank in, then...

A purple aura began to surround it... forming a transparent dome with a one-meter diameter...

"Let’s begin," the voice whispered...

I stared carefully at the branch... curiosity had completely taken hold of me...

The soil inside the transparent dome began to change repeatedly, sometimes light, sometimes returning dark... then several new branches sprouted from it... and its size increased a little...

After a few moments... the bean-like fruit began to open... then turned into a flower... yellow.

Then after a while... the flower began to expand...

Suddenly... the soil stopped changing, and the dome surrounding the flower began to disappear...

"The first flower has matured... you can consume it and gain the healing ability."

My feet moved forward one after another... then I picked the flower... it gave off a beautiful, light scent... like a refreshing spring perfume...

"I want the white flower," I told the monster...

"You can eat this and wait. Don’t rush."

"No... I don’t want to waste flowers... maybe someone else will benefit from this," I said.

"Haha," the monster mocked, then said, "consider this a gift. You can consume it."

Without allowing overthinking to take hold of me... I quickly ate the flower...

Suddenly...

{ Diiing... Diiing... Diiing }

{ First-Rank Yellow Flower Healing Ability acquired }

Aaah...

It felt like a light shock struck my body suddenly... then...

A sensation like water flowing over my body took hold of me for a moment, then vanished... and with it...

The exhaustion I had felt since waking from the seven-day slumber disappeared... my shoulder and the white cloth wrapped around it...

Quickly I removed them... my body had returned to normal.

{ Diiing... Diiing... Diiing }

{ Healing Missions Unlocked }

Haaa?